Gastrocalypse

One fateful evening, he was walking down an archetypal suburban street. Then again, may be not that typical. On both sides of this street, huge mansions (for what else could you call these palatial bungalows?) were standing guards, reflecting the propensity inside. This unabashed affluence contrasted somewhat irritably with the thick stench in the air. A black concoction of an open drain, as wide as the street itself, was flowing underneath. Once out of the ‘stench-zone’, he looked up towards the sky. It was ‘an inky’ black. He smiled. He liked this description the best.

Coming early from office that night, he had missed his usual office-dinner. So he had set out to find some on his own, although for now he was busy ‘observing’.

A couple walking together. Envy!
Then another common sight in this city – a group of gelled-hair-early-twenties in a plush car, playing loud music, laughing more than driving. The girls in the backseats vying for their attention more than the traffic on the road. And then the usual gloomy thought, of what it could have been! Among such thoughts, he continued.

It was then that he spotted the street side vendor selling ‘Momos’ .

Gastrocalypse began.

Breakfast the next day. Aahhhh! A terrible pain in the stomach. Intestines twisted and made their presence felt. Lumps of Upma going down the throat felt like stones pelted down the stomach. He spent the whole day in pain and then when it became unbearable, went home early. The next few weeks, he thought he had recovered but then the pain returned the same way in varying intensities.

Well, he did learn an important lesson in all this, two actually. Number one, when in pain, go to the Doctor immediately (he had delayed going to the doctor for around two months thinking it was a minor dyspeptic disorder which would heal by itself) and number two, that he was not invulnerable to street food and indigestion as he had always thought himself to be.

After a month of medicines and a careful diet, normalcy was restored. Oh thank God! He could enjoy food again!

But then, a dog bit him. 😦
Anti-Rabies injections began. He had three in one week and after the second one, the same stomach problem began again.